English Dissertation (again)

[ConstanceWearing]

Hi, I wrote a few months back about doing a dissertation on race etc in American literature (Uncle Tom's Cabin, Huckleberry Finn, etc).

I went to see the lady in charge of this subject at uni, and she scared the heck out of me, so decided against that topic.

Anyway, what I have decided on is 'The Dialogic Effect of Narrative (Dis)Order in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'Amores Perros', '21 Grams' and 'Babel'.

These three are films, I don't know if any of you have seen them? Babel stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, and is probably the most well-known.

Sorry to ask again, but what do you think of this as a subject? I'm having a moment where you go all hot and think to yourself 'what on Earth did you choose that for? Why is that a suitable area of research?'

Please tell me I'm not as stupid as I feel right now!!

What did the tutor say to scare you off the first subject?
Sounds interesting to me.

She is just a very scary, upfront lady, HP. I prefer my 'home truths' a little more watered-down

She made me feel inadequate, really

Did she yawn, and say 'oh, again?' in a drawly voice.... 'how.... interessssssting....'
I've had a few of those.

However, I'm up to my eyes in gender and space in early twentieth century middlebrow, and wondering whether I should have stuck to one of the others...

when are you handing in? i'm scheduling my nervous breakdown for, oo, tuesday? got to get it over with so i can finish the darn thing. mulling over whether asking for an extension a month before the deadline might be taking the piss.

on yours, bit languagey and 'format' pour moi, but it's got legs - i can sort of see where it'd go. have you written your proposal? What is your subject btw - i can include multi media but it's lit based...

I don't know what she said Romy, tbh, lol.
I just grabbed my folder and ran away, with the intention of never returning to her office

I'm doing BA English, but this is allowed to include film. I have done the proposal. Haven't had it back to read the tutor's comments yet, though.

Can you explain what you mean by a bit 'languagey' and 'format' for your liking, Romy? I'm wondering if you have anticipated anything I haven't? lol.

I was going to look at it from the pov of why these films have been edited in such a way- what's the point (dialogic intention type thing) - and as the films go chronologically from 'other', to Occidental, to Global - is the narrative a comment on the decentralisation of America in world politics/ globalization?

Too ambitious?
Oh, I think so

No - didn't mean it in a critical sense - just 'format' in that it would involve a huge amount of concentration on the format itself - editing and deliberate juxtaposition etc, why it's in that order etc - and not the literary waffle that I prefer to run on about - so in actuality pre-empting what you intended to do , as opposed to my own (far inferior lol) tastes - wasn't meant to alarm you at all! v v interesting - i'd like to read it but not write it though and only 'languagey' in a 'lang or lit' sense - again a personal taste thing, and depends how you do it.

think the decentralisation of America would be a fascinating way in... not seen the films in question so can't picture how it would pan out, just can visualise the way i'd do it (if i was forced lol.)

I only used one film for my BA thesis (in passing - the rest was text based but i wanted to make a point) and it was GI Jane... that will probably reassure you that my views whilst of course v esoteric, are prob not something you need to worry about overly!!!

it was a good quote though. i was very proud of it. 'suck my dick' had a nice way of rounding off my conclusions about homer.

nothing wrong with ambitious anyway

how long have you got before it's due?

Pmsl re quote and Homer. I'd have been half wetting myself laughing, half wetting myself with fear, waiting to get the mark for that .

It doesn't have to be in until March '09, so I'm just reading up. I'm going to make it as unlanguagey as I can, tbh. I really don't like that side of English. much more of a 'vive la revolution' type of student .

I Was thinking of trying a 'psycho/socio/politico/historical/ anything except exegesis' type of thing, mixed up with some Mikhail Bakhtin.

I have no clue where I'm going with it yet. Just wondered what other people thought of the basic idea, really, as I was having a wobble

Oh, Romy, if you have time to reply, what's your's about? I can do 20th century middlebrow, but I much prefer to slum it with the Working classes and encourage revolutions lol.

to be honest, dd1 was about five months old when i finished, so i didn't have much time to fret about my marks. she came to my graduation looking like phil mitchell - all beefy arms and no hair. (i pulled a first though, so someone obviously had a sense of humour)
this one started off along the lines of topographical gradations of the masculine ideal in inter/ post war middlebrow etc etc but it's sort of morphing as we speak into spatial segregation by gender, looking at different 'sites' (it started with the house/ domestic space and Bachelard/ Foucault, but now it ranges off over golf courses and urban planning (garden cities 'homes for heroes', tunnels, cliffs, the sea, parks, boats etc....)
it's a little eclectic at the mo, but i'll get it back under control. I'm sure it will bear no relation to my proposal at all lol.
Spent the morning looking over the Ideal Home Exhibition stuff from 1908 to 1950's to provide historical context to the texts i'm using - v interesting -
um texts...
i think...
Crewe Train (Macauley)
A Note in Music (Lehmann)
The New House (Cooper)
The Crowded Street (Holtby)
The Friendly Young Ladies (Renault)

and I'm toying with P G Wodehouse...
i'll probably briefly kick off with The Return of the Soldier to root discussion in literary/ historical context and take it from there...
Can you tell i've just got piles of notes everywhere and need to start thinking about a logical plan. The one I had needs some serious revising! (or just burn it and start again)
I think I've just got too much stuff - but i'm going to have to get it all down and weed it back to something concise!

have promised myself i must stop by the 50s so i don't start a whole new chapter on masc angst and the joy of the hoover